Wilber reports sharp income decline

The Wilber Corp., parent company of Wilber National Bank and Provantage Funding Corp., today reported second-quarter net income of $1.4 million, a sharp decline from the $2.4 million reported for the same period last year.

Wilber blamed the drop, in part, on two unusual income sources in the 2007 second quarter, including a $615,000 life insurance gain due to the death of a senior executive and a $200,000 gain from flood-recovery grants.

The company also added personnel in this year’s quarter, and increased advertising and other expenses by $530,000 as part of its expansion into the Capital Region and the Syracuse area. Wilber opened its first Capital Region branch in May, in Halfmoon.

For the first half, Wilber earned $2.8 million as compared to $4.3 million in the year-ago period.

Wilber, headquartered in Oneonta, has 22 branches in upstate New York and loan offices in Syracuse, Cicero and Clifton Park.